Luis Fernando Soto was born on 26 September 1949 in the heart of Barrio Santiago in Jerez de la Frontera.
Luis el Zambo stems from a fisherman’s family. And before his final breakthrough as a flamenco singer, he used to be a full-time fisherman himself. He inherited the nickname “Zambo” from his father Joaquin.
He belongs to a small private circle of artists who can be recognized by their entirely authentic way of expressing themselves, based on the purest and oldest tradition of the Cante Gitano.

Luis el Zambo has always had the admiration of all those who carry the traditional Arte Flamenco at heart. Possible explanations are his personal charisma, his perfect mastery of the Compás and above all his interpretation of the classical Cantes in the style of the ancient gipsy tradition.

His Cante stands for spontaneity, “Gitaneria” and a large portion of tradition. His parents were his natural teachers, mostly because of all the adventures they shared in the countryside and on family feasts in their gipsy neighbourhood Barrio Santiago.
On this basis, he has developed his own style of singing which he always interprets along the tradition with all of his heart and soul. His moving, sincere and tasteful style always succeeds in touching the spectators in de depth of their souls. The fact that the Compás has no more secrets for him, allows him to interpret the Cantes by the inspiration of the moment.
As a result of his collaboration on the recording of “Cayos Reales” (a CD made in full jerezian gipsy tradition), he was asked to contribute to the work of e.g. Moraito (the CD “Morao, Morao”), Tomatito (the CD “Paseo de los Castaños”) and Miguel Poveda (his CD “Zaguan”).

After this very interesting episode, he got the flavour and dived back into the studio for the recording of “Al Compás de los Zambos”, as it were a working piece of the family. In 2002, his own CD followed: “Gloria Bendita”.
He has also released a DVD called “El Zambo” in the series “Puro y Jondo”, a production of the Spanish public broadcasting company TVE.

The list of important performances is endless. He figures three times at row on the Biennial of Sevilla (2000-2002 and 2004), at the Teatro Albeniz Madrid with La Paquera, El Torta and Agujetas, at the Festival Flamenco de Nîmes, the Festival Flamenco de las Minas in La Union and many many more.

Luis el Zambo is a cantaor who serves both depth as freshness to the attentive listener of the Cante Flamenco.